The Magical Meddling of Rachael
by FireboltMoon8042
Summary: Join Rachael on the adventure of a lifetime when she discovers that she is part of a world hidden from the world of muggles. Will she be able to cope with her new found magic or will she decline the offer to go to the best school of witchcraft and wizardry?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Owl

Rachael isn't the everyday ten year old you'd think her to be, there's something different about her. She doesn't know it yet but she is about to embark on an amazing adventure full of mystery, magic and fun. But for now she remains blissfully unaware of the oncoming chaos that is about to come flying her way, literally.

"Can't wait for tomorrow" Rachael said, her voice buzzing with excitement, "It's going to be great!"

"What is?" replied Michael, her only friend, sarcastically.

"It's my birthday tomorrow!" scowling at him "Have you not been listening?"

"Of cores I've been listening, you've been talking none stop about it all week." he droned "Speaking of birthdays, I've got your card and present hear" he said, pulling out an purple envelope and a small box wrapped in black paper covered in glittering stars. For a second Rachael could have sworn she'd seen one of them move, but cast it off as a trick of the light on the glitter.

"Thank you" she said, her voice still buzzing, "What is it?"

"I can't tell you that. If I did, the magic would disappear." he said with a hint of mystery in his voice.

She smiled and ran to her house as her parents had just called her in.

"Bye!" he yelled after her. She turned to reply, but he had already gone.

_How does he do that?_ she thought, as she ran back to her house.

The next day she woke up to her parents, who were standing at the foot of her bed with a tray of breakfast. There was a glass of orange juice that sparkled and in the sun that shone through the slightly opened curtains. The glass sat next to the ceramic bowl filled with golden corn flakes that floated in milk and crackled gently with the slightest of movement from her father's hands. She smiled with glee and was just about to thank them and take the tray of them when there was a small taping at the window. She ignored it.

"Thank you mum, thank you dad" said Rachael taking the tray off them as delicately as she could so as not to drop or spill anything.

"So, what's happening today?" she asked, intrigue filling her eyes.

"Well, we're..." her mother started, but was interrupted by the tapping at Rachael's window. She sighed, got out of bed and flung open the curtains. The sunlight blinded her for a second, but as her eyes adapted to the sudden burst of light, she could just make out the shape of an owl. It's feathers snow white with black tips here and there, it's wide amber eyes stared at her through the window and it continued to peck the window.

"What is it?" enquired her mother trying to see what it was, but couldn't really make it out because of the light.

She laughed and said "It's an owl, with something in its beak."

Her parents looked at each other. then Rachael's dad pushed past her and opened the window, the snowy owl hopped in to her room and settled on her bed, dropping the letter on the tray- which Rachael had left on the bed.

_What on earth is going on?_ she wondered as her mother reached to pick up the letter.

She looked at the front closely, and then opened it. She pulled out two pages of crisp parchment.

"Well, what does it say?" asked Rachael curiously. Her mother unfolded the parchment and read aloud.

"HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of _WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmistress: Victoria Langton

(Order of Merlin First Class, Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Vardey,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find the enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours Sincerely,

Neville Longbottom

Deputy Headmaster"

"WHAT?!" she screamed, "IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?! MAGIC ISN'T RAEL! I MEAN..." but her parents weren't listening, they were too busy talking to each other.

"Well...er" her mother started, _"I told you we should have told her about it before this happened!"_ she hissed at her father who was looking a little bit guilty.

"Told me what?" came the rather abrupt and impatient voice of Rachael, who was trying to watch her parents and the owl, that looked as if it had fallen asleep, at the same time.

"Right" started her father," we'll star from the beginning..."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Excuses and Explanations

After Rachael had finished her breakfast, what was left of the now soggy cornflakes, she threw her clothes on and ran down the stairs to find her mum and dad waiting for her at the dinner table. _Strange_ she thought, making an odd face as if she were thinking really hard.

"What is it" asked her mum

"Nothing...it's just...Is that owl staring at me?"

"What?" replied her dad.

"Oh, never mind, it isn't important.", noticing that it had stopped paying attention to her."So what's this about me being a Witch and why didn't you tell me about it?" she said, with a slight hint of anger in her voice.

"Well, first of all, we didn't want to get your hopes up about going to Hogwarts. We thought if you didn't know then you wouldn't get upset if you didn't get accepted." said her mum.

"Well then how come I've been accepted!" she said, getting angry as her parents had made one hell of a mistake not telling her sooner.

"Do you remember last year in France, when we went to that water park?" asked her father.

"Yes, but what does that have to do anything?"

"On the diving board when you went to the very top board..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know I pasted out and fell off because of the whole 'too much sun, not enough watery fun', but that wasn't my fault."

"When you fell, you didn't really fall. You kind of floated down slowly and I caught you. We even have it on film, 'cause your mum wanted to see you dive." her dad finished, and, in exchange, he got a look of disbelief from his now silent daughter.

They watched the film, but, as much as Rachael wanted to deny what was happening, there it was. She knew it couldn't be fake because her parents could only get their heads around a few electrical objects, she thought they probably asked Michael to do it. When she was finally able to talk again she asked "So, I did that."

"Yep." replied her mother.

"Why not tell me after that? Why keep it hidden?"

"We weren't sure if it was magical enough for you to get noticed."

"Oh, so it how it works, is it. They just wait for you to do some think magic and then BIBBITY BOPPETY BOOM! your suddenly put in pointy hat and told how to wave a stick." Rachael finding it very hard now to contain her anger now.

"Yes." said her, trying to be funny, but received two very nasty scowls, which seemed to shut him up.

"In some cases people are known to move cars just by looking at them or tell animals what to do. We didn't know until you got that letter to say you were going."

"WHO SAYS I'M GOING AT ALL!" she bellowed , now fuming with rage."I MEAN I 'VE BEEN HOME SCHOOLED ALL MY LIFE, I'VE ONLY GOT ONE FIREND AND HE'S ONLY AROUND DURING THE HOLIDAYS CAUSE HE GOES TO SOME STUPID BOARDING SCHOOL!"

"oh" said her mum, almost nervously "did we forget to tell you?"

"Tell me what?" spoke Rachael in as calm as voice as possible.

"Hogwarts is a boarding school."

Rachael looked at her parents and was about to say something. When there was suddenly a lot knocking on the front door and the door bell was making a noise that can only be described as the hunchback of Notre Dame on a bell swinging joy ride. Rachael blew the hair out of her face and went to the door. She opened it to find Michael, looking a little tired from knocking.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" he yelled

And then it hit her. She glared at Michael.

"Am I interrupting something?" he said, before being dragged into the house and the door slammed behind him.

"Ok, what's the matter? What's going- is that owl staring at me?"

"NO, AND YOU KNOW WHATS GONING ON DON'T YOU, WIZARD!"

Her parents looked at him.

"OOOHHH, the owl."

"yep" said her exhausted parents.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME ABOUT THIS, YOUR MY ONLY FIREND, WHY?!" Rachael yelled at him, all the calm that once in her mind had been disappeared.

"I wasn't allowed to tell you. When your parents saw one of the professors walking up my drive, they came to my house and made me swear not to tell you." he spoke in a startled voice, his eyes wide in terror.

"BUT YOU SHOULD OF!" she yelled

"Look, just calm down and I'll tell you everything, once I've gone and gotten my stuff out of my room." he said excited. "And don't get mad at your mum and dad, they were only trying to spare you any pain that this whole thing would have coursed if you hadn't been picked."

She looked at him and said "Ok" and she turned to her parents and, reluctantly, "sorry."

"It's ok, we should have told about it sooner but there was no need to get that mad." said her dad who look a little relieved it was over.

"Fine, is there anything else you want to say?" asked her mum.

"Not yet." replied Rachael.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Decision Time

Sometime later Michael had returned with a rather small looking bag on his back. Rachael let him in and, after watching her blow out the candles on her cake and open her presents, he went up to her room.

"Right" said Michael "Are you ready to enter the world that you previously were unaware of. Where the laws of physics can be defied a the wave of a wand, where dragons roam and..."

"Cut to the chase, dork of ages!"snapped Rachael.

"Sorry, that was Brandon talking, not me."

"Whose Brandon?"

"One of my friends at Hogwarts."

"You have other friends?" she smirked

"Says the girl whose only friend is one year older than her and secretly went to a magical boarding school in Scotland. But don't worry it's easy to make friends at Hogwarts, especially ones in your house."

"You make a good point, and what do mean by house?"

"Well the students in their first year have to be sorted into house. There are four houses each named after one of the founders, Gryffindor, for the brave, Ravenclaw, for the intelligent, Slytherin, for the cunning, and Hufflepuff, for the loyal."

"And, which one are you in? Slytherin, Ravenclaw?"

"Nope, Hufflepuff."

"Okay, then. So what else do I need to know?" she asked, starting to get excited.

"Well for a start, you'll need a wand." he said as he pulled open his bag, and, putting his entire arm in, pulled out a neat, yellow box. He opened and took out a smooth, if slightly bent, wand.

"It's twelve and one quarter inches long, slightly springy, sycamore wood with a phoenix feather core." he said

"Ok, I'm new to this, so I'm not entirely sure if I understood what you just said." came the voice of a very confused Rachael.

"Well the length normally is determined by the height and the personality of the user. The flexibility is the wands like the wands possibility or willingness of leaving the current owner. The wood is the material used to make the wand and also the traits a person needs to use a wand of that wood. Finally the core is what gives the wand its magic. There are many wand cores and woods, but there are three that are the best when it comes to wand making. First, unicorn tail hair, it's not the most powerful out of the three but is the most reliable. Dragon heartstring has the most power magic, but is the wand core that courses the most accidents. And last but not least, the feather of a Phoenix, which produces the widest range of magic, but can act of its own accord."

"You may have helped a little, but where did you learn all of this?" asked Rachael, the excitement of all of it was growing inside her now.

"I learned it at Ollivanders. He said I was a tricky customer while he was looking for the wand that would chose me. I got curious about wand lore and decided to ask. I must have been in there for half an hour, but it was defiantly worth it."

"What do you mean 'the wand that would chose you' your speaking as if there a living thing."

"I'm not sure about that, he was interrupted by my wand making the lights flicker and the wind blow."

"What did it feel like?" asked Rachael, whose head was now full to bursting point with questions.

"All in good time." said Michael leaving Rachael to wonder.

About an hour later and Michael had shown her books full of magical runes and spells, pictures of his friends Brandon, Hannah, Fay and Alex, let her feed his owl Erin and showed her that days Daily Prophet, which he let her keep because she loved the moving pictures. The one thing Michael refused was showing her an actual magic spell, for two reasons: one, he wasn't allowed to, and two, he didn't want to spoil it for her. When he finally left with all of his things, her parents asked her one last question.

"So..." said her dad "Do you want to go?"

"What do you think?" she said and walked into the living room an began to read 'the latest ways to accessories your toad'.

"I think that's a yes!" her mother said excitedly.

at once the owl awoke and stared at her parents.

"OH, the letter!" said her parents, and hurried off to the kitchen to write a reply, and get some bacon bites to feed the owl.

After sending off the owl, they told and showed Rachael as much as she wanted, apart from spells, much to her disappointment. She went to bed that night and dreamed of all she was going to see and do.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

First Impressions

It had been a week since the chaos that on owl had brought. The summer holidays were almost over and Rachael had never been more excited about education in her life, even the odd time she had to go into a proper school to sit her SATS.

She was told to be up early so they could have a trip to London. It was all organised and Rachael was ready to go. There was a knock at the door and Rachael got up to answer the door and was met with the very tired face of Michael.

"How can you not be excited about going to London?"

"I am, but it's not London I'm excited about, it's where we're going that I'm happy about." Michael groaned, clearly he had been up most of the night.

"Oh, and where is that?" Rachael asked, her eyes filling with intrigue.

"All in good time." said Rachael's dad, who was just standing behind Michael making him jump. Rachael laughed and then got off her bed and went down the stairs, followed by Michael and her dad. They met Rachael's mum who was waiting in the hall way

"Ready to go?" asked her mother.

"Yep." they replied.

"Ok then" and she put out her arm.

"What's she doing?"asked Rachael.

"I'm not sure." said Michael, who was just as confused as Rachael was at this time.

"Right every one hold on." she said franticly.

So Michael and Rachael grabbed her arm and then it all went dark and very blurred. In just under five seconds it all stopped, and Michael and Rachael were on the floor feeling as if their stomachs had been turned inside out.

"Uuuggrrr, what just happened?" moaned Michael and Rachael, who were on the floor.

"We apparated to a safe point." said Rachael's mum, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

When they were able to stand up without the need to stop their breakfast from making a reappearance, they looked around. They found themselves in a dark room with a few small windows that looked out over a train track. The dust was slowly settling back down, so it was hard to really make things out, as Michael and Rachael slowly stumbled their way to the door they could hear the voices of people chattering away to each other and laughing.

"Where are we?" asked Rachael, looking as if she was about to be sick all over the creaky wooden floor.

"The Leakey Cauldron. Well, the upper floor of it anyway." said her mum. As there was another loud popping noise, and Rachael's dad apparated in to the room as well.

"All in one piece, no one splinch or anything?" said her dad, looking for any sign of blood, or sick, on the floor.

"Splinch?" Michael said

"It's something to do with apparition, when part of your body is left in the place you were just at. It could be anything from a hair or a toe nail to an arm or leg." explained her dad failing to notice them both suddenly clasping their mouths.

When they finally managed to get down the stairs and push their way past the breakfast crowd, they went through a door into a small yard where the bins were. It was completely closed off, apart from the way they came, by tall brick walls. At once, Rachael's mum stepped toward the wall and pulled out her wand. Her wand was eleven and a half inches, pliant, Maple, with a unicorn hair for its core. She went to the bin closest the wall, and counted two up and three across and tapped it. Nothing happened.

"What? Have they changed it?" she said in a confused voice as she frowned at it.

Michael laughed and got his wand out of his pocket.

"It's _three up_ and _two across_." he said, and he trapped the correct brick and stood back. The brick he had tapped wobbled slightly in its place. Then it shook, and as it did, the rest of the bricks began to do the same. The first brick, then ones around it, and soon the whole wall was shuffling to form a wide arch. Rachael stood in awe as she got her first glance into the wizarding world.

"But that's...How...WOW!" stammered Rachael, frantically trying to get her words out but her brain couldn't cope, she felt as if she was going to explode with excitement as they crossed the threshold.

"Welcome, to Diagon Alley Rachael." said her dad in a dramatic voice.

As they walked further into the new and magical place, Rachael wished she had more eyes. She saw a woman dressed in murky green robes inspecting a silver cauldron outside a shop with a sign on the side that said 'Potage's cauldron shop - All sizes- Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible' Suddenly, a foul smell hit her.

"YUCK!" came her voice, muffled, from behind her sleeve, but no one looked as bothered by the smell apart from Michael.

"Don't worry you'll get use to it." said her dad, who barely noticed the smell, "I mean on a hot day, the Apothecary courses half the alley the stink."

"The Apothecary is where you'll be buying ingredients for potion making in classes." said her mum who was shaking her at the price of dragon liver, "7 Galleons" she said in disgust.

As they moved down the alley, Rachael heard hooting, mewing, croaking and any number of strange noises coming from Eeylops Owl Emporium & Magical Menagerie. Then, something caught her eye, it was a large, snowy coloured building that loomed over the much smaller buildings. Outside, there was a small person standing outside wearing a scarlet and gold uniform. Before they got to the building Rachael and Michael were stopped by her parents.

"Michael, I know you've been here before so you know what I'm going to say. Rachael, the people who work in this bank, they're not really human." said her mother, keeping her voice down.

"What do you mean?" asked Rachael, glancing up at the person at the door, who, from what she could see, was perfectly normal, apart from his very small stature.

"Their Goblins." said her dad, who was also trying to keep quiet "So just don't say anything that might make you seem thief, and for goodness sake do NOT stare at them, they should be treated with respect."

They started to walk again, and as they reached the small set of stairs that led to grand, bronze doors, Rachael could see now that the person was definitely not human anymore. He was just shorter than Rachael, had pointed ears, sharp nails and his eyes were almost entirely black. He bowed to them as they went pasted and the doors opened themselves. They were then met by a second pair of silver door, but this time there were two goblins at this door and, engraved on the door was a small poem that read:

_Enter, stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take, but do not earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn,_

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there_

The two goblins, like the first, bowed and the doors opened. They were now standing in a beautiful room. The room appeared to be made out of marble and gold, with a glass roof and an ornate, crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, casting small sunspots that danced when the doors behind them closed. There were lots of long desks that stretched down the room, leaving gaps where the white tiles lead off to more, smaller bronze doors. They walked to a goblin, who didn't appear to be doing much.

"Excuse me" said Rachael's mother to the Goblin.

"Yes" said the Goblin.

"Mr Michael Shaw and Miss Rachael Vardey wish to make a withdrawal."

"And are you in possession of their keys."

Michael took off his bag and pulled out a key ring with all of his keys on it. He took a shiny, gold key off it and handed it to the Goblin. Rachael, however, had no key, but her dad was one step ahead of her and, before she could even ask, he pulled out a small, gold shiny key like Michael's.

"That seems to be in order." said the goblin after examining the keys "You!" he barked at a goblin standing behind him. She stood to attention and he said, "Take this group down to their vaults."

"Yes sir." she said and walked off to the left side door, closely followed by the group. As they reached the door, a faint rumbling could be heard coming from the other side of it. When the door was opened, a blast of cold air whipped through their hair. On the other side was a damp tunnel only lit be several flickering torches, it was quite a difference from such a grand entrance.

"What's that noise?" said Rachael, trying to stop her teeth from chattering.

"That is our high speed cart transportation system." came the squeaky voice of the goblin ahead of her. They came out into a small opening that resembled a train station, with their being a small platform and a track running next to it. On the track there was a strange, metal contraption attached to it which had one seat at the front and one long seat on the back. The little chestnut haired goblin climbed in the front and gestured for them to get in the back.

"What's this for?" asked Rachael

"Well, Gringotts Wizarding Bank is built under London because of how many and how large some vaults are, and this is the best way of getting around it and avoiding the lethal traps.' replied the goblin, who was busy reading the numbers off the keys.

"TRAPS!" screamed Rachael, who was completely ignored.

"Do you have anything in your pockets or anything that might be loose?" asked Michael, who was sitting next to her.

"Yes, why?"said Rachael

"You'll find out. Now put anything loose in my bag."

"Fine." she said taking off some bracelets and the necklace Michael had got her a week ago and putting them in the bag, which was put under the seat.

"Everybody ready?" asked the goblin, who was now wearing a ridicules pair of driving goggles.

"Yes" said Michael and Rachael's mum and dad. Rachael, who had no idea what was happening, just looked at the opposite wall. All of a sudden, the cart jerked into life and shot forward, pushing all of them back into their seats. Rachael was screaming as the cart twisted left and right, up and down and at one point went round in a spiral. Michael just laughed until he saw a sudden flash of fire, which caught his eye. A few mind numbing minutes later, they had finally arrived at vault 875- Michaels vault. He took a few gold, silver, and bronze coins into his wallet. "Galleons are the gold ones, there are seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon, and twenty-nine bronze Knuts. Yes it's hard to remember, and yes I am reading it off my hand."

Once Michael was finished, they got back on the cart and were whizzed off to vault 918, to pick up Rachael's money. Her parents had explained how they opened an account for her after she got the letter and how, because of her dads job of being an important person in the Ministry of Magic, they gave her 500 Galleons, as they earned a lot of money. It was amazing they managed to keep such a secret hidden for so long. When Rachael got to her vault and had taken out around 100 galleons worth of coins secured inside her purse, they finally left the dark, damp tunnels of Gringotts.

Back above ground in the busy alley Michael and Rachael were desperate to go and explore, but they weren't a lowed to because Rachael needed to stay with them. First they made the trip to Madam Malkin's to get her fitted for her new uniform. Madam Malkin remembered Michael when she looked at him and said, "OH! You're the boy who came in here with the Muggle parents who thought I dressed funny." Michael giggled and said, "Yes, I was. But to be fair, you were wearing a live Rooster on your head."

"So" she said, "they weren't." Michael laughed at this, and left with Rachael and her parents telling them about the very strange outfit which consisted mostly of Rooster feathers and egg shells. Next was Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment to buy some brass scales, a brass telescope, some crystal phials, a chart and a globe of the moon, and a star chart. Michael was busy looking at a strange pipe with its end in the shape of a dragons head while Rachael's parents bought the equipment.

"What you looking at?" spoke Rachael from over Michaels shoulder.

"I'm not sure, but I bet you it shoots fire when you blow on it!"

BANG!

"Told you!" said Michael, swatting the smoke out of his face. Rachael, who had blown the pipe was in tears of laughter, as the shop keeper glared at them.

When Rachael's parents had handed the money over, and the smoke cleared, they left for Florean Fortescue's Ice-cream parlour, for something to eat. When they finished Michael and Rachael went to the cauldron shop so as to avoid the horrible, ever present smell of the Apothecary, where her parents had gone to buy the standard potion ingredients after getting her books at Flourish and Blotts.

"So, what do you think about all this?" he asked Rachael who looking at a solid gold, self stirring cauldron.

"I don't know. I'm excited but also really nervous that all of this isn't going to be as good I think it'll be." she looked at Michael with worry in her eyes.

"Trust me, once you get there, it'll be the scariest thing in the world." he said, watching as Rachael looked as if she was going to break down in a puddle of tears, "But after the first week or so, you'll find that all of those nerves were for nothing. You'll be in your common room laughing about it with your new friends."

At this, Rachael looked up and smiled, still filled with nerves, but felling a lot better about the whole thing.

"Now let's find that size two pewter cauldron and be on our way back." said Rachael in an enthusiastic voice.

On the way out they bumped into a girl with black hair and glasses, sending her books flying.

"HEY!" yelled the girl "WATCH WHERE YOUR..." her voice trailed off. "MICHAEL!?"

"Hi Hannah, I wondered if I'd bump into you." said Michael, pleased to see his friend."Looking forward to being a second year?"

"Yes, so long as you and Brandon don't blow anything up." she said smiling.

"I will make no such promises." he said helping her pick up her books before they got trodden on.

"Had a good summer?"

"Yeah, great, my friend Rachael got accepted to Hogwarts as well." he said, with great delight.

"So this is Rachael, nice to meet you." said Hannah said to Rachael, holding out her hand.

"Nice to meet you to." said Rachael, shaking Hannah's hand.

"Well I've got to go. My parents are probably still lost in Flourish and Blotts, I swear they never leave. One time my dad literally got glued to book in there. See you on the Scarlet Engine!" she called walking into the book shop.

"Bye!" they yelled after her.

"She seemed nice." she said, and they covered their mouth's and nose's and stepped into the Apothecary.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Witch, the Wand and the Crup

"Right." sighed Rachael's dad "All we need now is you animal and your wand."

"We'll get the animal first and save the wand 'til last, eh?"said her mum, and off they went towards the animal shops.

"Which one do you want?" asked the man behind the counter of Eeylops Owl Emporium and Magical Menagerie. "We offer a range of animals ranging from Toads to Cats and Owls to Snakes. We also have just had one of our Crups give birth a few weeks ago if you're interested."

"What's a Crup?" Rachael asked.

"Come over here and I'll show you." he said walking around his counter and through a door, where it was quiet compared with the orchestra of animal noises. Then, Rachael heard a small, high pitched bark.

"Here they are, house and Muggle trained of course." he said, as he showed them a cage full of white and brown puppies. They strongly resembled Jack Russell Terriers, apart from the tail was forked, and split into two tales.

"AAAAAWWWWWWWWW!" screamed Rachael, "They are adorable! Can I have one, how much?"

"Twenty Galleons." said the man.

"Please?" said Rachael.

"No" said her parents

"It says owl, toad or cat and-" started her mum.

"If I could interject, there's a boy in my year who has snake and a girl who has a pygmy puff. They aren't really that bothered about it as long as it's trained properly." said Michael, who had finally managed to tare his eyes away from the bundle of pups.

"Well, if its trained. Ok then." said her dad.

"Yes!" said Rachael and she looked for the one she wanted.

"OH, I can't decide. Their all so cute!"

Then, one of them caught her eye. It was the smallest, and probably the runt of the litter, as it seemed to staying away from the other Crups. Instead it just rolled around on its own.

"That one." she said, pointing toward it.

It suddenly jumped up and bounded toward her, as if it knew what she had said. It was almost entirely white apart from the light brown patches on the tip of its tales and its ears.

A few minutes later, they were leaving with a caged Crup, a lead, collar(both black) with a tag attached to it that read 'Russell'.

"Oh my goodness, he's so cute." said Rachael "Is it time to get my wand now."

"Yep" said her mum "and it's getting late so let's hope it only takes a few tries to find your wand, because we're going to start packing tomorrow, so tonight you'll need to check everything you want to take is ready to go into the trunk, ok."

"Ok." said Rachael who was watching her Crup drifting in and out of sleep.

They finally reached the place Rachael had been dreaming of ever since she agreed to go to Hogwarts. As they went round the corner to South Diagon Alley Rachael saw, at the end of the street, a small, narrow shop. It looked new, but, as they got closer, the sign on the shop said _'Ollivanders, makers of Fine Wands since 382_ _BC_' in bright gold letters, a single wand lying on a purple cushion was displayed in the window. It looked newer than the others for some reason.

"If it's been around for so long, then why does it look so new?" asked Rachael trying to work out why.

"It got blown up years ago during the second wizarding war, well near the start of it. The wand maker was kidnapped by the Deatheaters, but he's ok now. You'll learn more about it when you go to Hogwarts." said her mum, looking very serious.

"Ready?" said Michael, smiling. And, taking a deep breath, she replied with,

"As I'll ever be."

They walked into the shop, and a bell rang in the depths of the shop. A young girl(around twenty years old) peaked from the other side of a self.

"Customers!" she yelled behind her.

"Coming, coming!" came a second voice.

"Hello" said the girl, as the sound of boxes falling behind her coursed Rachael to wonder how big the shop might be, "I'll just take your measurements." and she tapped a tape measure that jumped to life and began to measure almost every part of Rachael's body, from the length of her arms to the circumference of her nostrils. Just then, an old man with deep silvery eyes walked out of the back of the box filled shop.

"Oh, I remember you three." he said, looking at Michael and Rachael's Parents. "Twelve and one quarter, slightly springy, Sycamore, phoenix feather. Eleven and a half, pliant, Maple, unicorn hair. And nine and one quarter, surprisingly swishy, Alder, unicorn hair." they all nodded, "But you." he said, now addressing Rachael, "You don't have a wand, do you?"

"No sir." she said as the tape measure floated back to the desk.

"I've prepared some of the wands, including some of the new ones." said the girl.

"Thank you Bethany, it is a verity?"

"Err, yes. I've got: Phoenix, Dragon, Manticore, Fwooper, Chimaera, Doxy and Unicorn. I couldn't find any Kneazle or Kelpie." said Bethany.

"That's ok. I couldn't find the right wand when I was starting out, and now I can remember every single wand I have ever sold." he said, picking up the first wand. He handed her the smallest wand she could see. She stood, holding it perfectly still.

"Wave it!" said Michael, making her jump. There was a huge bang, and a massive hole in the ceiling.

"NO! That one is not for you!" said Ollivander, waving his wand and the hole fixed its self."Dragon core doesn't like you, why don't we try Phoenix?" he said as Bethany passed him a light coloured wand. But the second it touched her figures, the room went dark.

"Not that one." he smiled as the black mist cleared."The Fwooper feather and cherry wood, may be yours." But Rachael coursed all of the glass in the room detonate. Manticore made her skin go green, Doxy wing and spruce wood did nothing for 30 seconds before it made a screaming noise that made Rachael's dad to run into a door and the Chimera scale wand, 14 inches long, burst into flames. It only went out when Rachael put it down, leaving no damage to itself at all.

"Well. That was... interesting. Not a lot of wands appear to like you, but no matter, I like a tricky customer. Unicorn hasn't been tried yet, maybe this belongs to you." he said. Bethany picked up a pale blue box and gave it gently to Mr Ollivander. He took the lid off and Rachael felt the dust in the room slow down. The shuffling of wizards and witches outside stopped. The hair on the back of her neck stood up on end as the wand made contact with her hand. She suddenly found herself pointing it in the air, and a bolt of lightning shot out sending beautiful silver and purple sparks dancing around the wand.

Michael, Bethany and Rachael's parents cheered and clapped as the sparks faded and Rachael had lowered the wand.

"Marvellous!" shouted Ollivander, his silver eyes gleaming with joy, "Simply marvellous. You and your wand have finally found each other! This wand is thirteen and a quarter inches long, slightly springy, Laurel wood and, residing in it, the hair of a Unicorn and it will serve you well." he said, giving the wand and the box to Bethany, who was waiting to wrap it in brown paper.

"That was incredible!" came the shout of Rachael's mother.

"We're so proud of you!" said her dad.

"Can I see it again?" shouted Michael

"I can't believe I have my own wand!" Rachael said in disbelief.

When Rachael had finished thanking Ollivander and Bethany she paid them seven galleons and left with her wand. They were now making their way back to the place they came from. Michael quickly darted into the clothes shop and bought a Hufflepuff scarf, as he had forgotten about it when they were there earlier.

As the sun set over Diagon Alley, a new witch had been born.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The Scarlet Engine

"WAKE UP!" came the voice of Rachael's mother.

"What? What's going on?" asked Rachael, sitting up in bed. It was six o'clock in the morning on the first day of September and Rachael was still half asleep.

"It's time to get up, get dressed and come down stairs and have your breakfast. Then we're picking up Michael and his mum and dad, then it's off to the station by, at the latest, fifteen minutes to eleven. But we should get there before that." she explained, when Rachael had finally dragged herself out of bed and was picking up her clothes.

"Come on, hurry up. You'll have to be quicker than this when you're at Hogwarts. COME ON!" yelled her mum, leaving the room.

Rachael got her clothes on and ,almost falling down the stairs, got into the kitchen and had her breakfast. When they had finished, they went over to Michael's house and picked them up while Rachael pulled her trunk down to the hall way. Once Michael and his mum and dad were inside Rachael's house and the door was locked, they disapparated to the a safe point nearly Kings Cross Station. It was about ten o'clock as they crossed the road.

"We would have gotten hear earlier, but Russell ran away and hid in the cupboard under the sink." said Rachael to Michael.

"You'd think they've never seen an owl before." Michael said, trying to ignore all the Muggles looking at them as they walked up to the trolleys. Inside the station, they walked to platforms nine and ten and stopped.

"What are we doing here?" asked Rachael, looking at the wall they had stopped at.

"Wait for it." said Michael, and he charged at the wall. He vanished.

"Where did he go?" as Michaels parents nervously followed and, they to vanished.

"You turn Rachael." said her dad "Just run straight at that wall and do not stop, and make sure that no one's watching."

"But I'll crash!" she said, with a look of shock on her face.

"Don't worry, I'll run with you." said her mother, putting her hands on her daughters shoulders and began to run.

Rachael watched as the wall was getting closer and closer with every step. And then, it was all over. She opened her eyes and found herself standing on the other side of the wall. She heard people talking and shouting, laughing and crying and the sudden blare of the deep scarlet coloured steam engine.

"Wow!" she said as her dad ran through the wall.

"See I told you it would be fine." said her mum, "Now, let's catch up with Michael." who was already further along the station.

"I can't wait to go! But I'll miss you." said Rachael to her mum and dad, hugging them.

"We'll miss you too." said her mum, sobbing.

"You promised you wouldn't cry." said Rachael.

"You did." said her dad, lifting the heavy trunk and giving it to the man loading the train with trunks of all different shapes and sizes.

"I know, but it's just so hard saying goodbye." said her mum, holding back her tears.

"The train's going to leave soon so you might want to get on." said her dad, giving her hug and stroking Russell, who was peering out of his small cage.

"Come on Rachael," said Michael, who had just finished saying bye to his parents, "It's five to eleven and I think I've found a cabin."

"I'll miss you." Rachael sobbed, as she gave her parents one last hug and boarded the train. A whistle was blown and the doors began to shut as the last few people jumped aboard the train and they were off. Rachael and Michael waved from the window as the train began to move off.

When the station had vanished from sight, they moved off to find a cabin. As they walked a small paper owl flew pasted Rachael's head and away down the train. One person was busy making fire appear at the top of her wand and another barged past Rachael almost knocking her over. Nearly every cabin was full of people eating sweets, playing pranks and casting spells. One person smashed something with their foot and sparkly powder filled the air, covering everyone in strange, colour changing glitter. Rachael laughed as she shook it out of her hair and Russell sneezed on and off until it cleared.

"THERES ONE!" Michael shouted over the noise of people yelling at the boy who just let off the glitter bomb, and he opened the door.

He sat down next to the window and watched the city whizz pasted.

"Looking forward to Hogwarts?" he said pulling out his wand and making sparks fly out of the end.

"Yeah, I can't wait." she said getting Russell out of his cage.

Just then, there was a knock on the door window. It was Hannah and another boy, who Rachael recognised him from the photos.

"Hi guys." Michael said, moving his bag off the seat and on to the floor.

"Hi Michael, hi Rachael." said Hannah, happy to them both."You haven't met Brandon yet?" she said to Rachael.

"Hello." Rachael said to the boy.

"Oh, so this is Rachael. Is she the one you saw in Diagon Alley?" said Brandon, shaking Rachael's hand.

"Yes." said Hannah, sitting down next to Rachael.

"So you got a Crup." said Hannah petting Russell, who licked her hand.

"Yeah, his names Russell." said Rachael.

"Have you seen Alex or Fay around?" asked Michael.

"Yes, but their closer to the front of the train." replied Brandon.

There was another knock on the door, but this time it was someone none of them knew. He had short black hair and was about the same height as Rachael, he carried a small, blue bag on his back and looked a little bit nervous. He opened the door and said, quietly,

"Can I sit in here, everywhere else is full?"

"Yeah sure." said Brandon, and the boy came in and sat down.

"I'm Matt" he said, still a little shy.

"Well it's nice to meet you." said Rachael "Are you a first year too?"

"Yep, I'm really nervous though. I heard one of the third years say that you have to take a test in front of the hole school, I don't know anything about magic." he said and Rachael gulped.

"Me neither." she said, and Matt smiled feeling better knowing he wasn't the only one.

About an hour of chatting, laughing and trying to put out the fire Michael had accidentally started, when an old woman stopped at the door,

"Anything from the trolley dears?" she asked, when she opened the door.

Michael was up quicker than an owl on a mouse. He bought something for everyone. Rachael, who was expecting Kit Kats and Mars Bars, was surprised to see none of the sweets she would normally buy. Instead she was met with: Bertty Bot's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Exploding Bon Bons, Pumpkin Pasties, Pumpkin Juice and whole assortment of confectionery and snacks.

"If I were you," said Michael "I'd stick to chocolate frogs and jelly snakes, and only go for every flavour beans if you want to risk a vomit or liver flavour bean. Although the lemonade flavour and chicken flavour taste really good."

"Are they really every flavour?" asked Matt bighting the head off a jelly snake.

"Unfortunately, yes." said Hannah, looking grim, "I once got soap, sardine and chilly favour in one handful. Michael spat his drink out laughing when he saw my face."

"THAT WAS HISTERICAL!" Michael yelled.

They had been on the train seven and a half hours when a man yelled down the train,

"WE'LL BE ARRIVING AT HOGWARTS IN HALF AN HOUR. PLEASE LAEVE EVERYTHING ON THE TRAIN TO BE COLLECTED AND TAKEN INTO THE CASTLE!"

"We better put our robes on then." said Brandon and they all pulled out their black robes and put on their uniform.

"Do we not put our full uniform on?" asked Matt.

"Yes, otherwise they get really annoyed. You, me and Brandon will get changed in changing car, and Rachael and Hannah can get changed in here." said Michael as Matt and Brandon left the cabin.

When they were dressed, and back in the cabin, there was only ten minutes to go until they arrived at the school.

They felt the train slow down and come to an eventual stop and the everyone was now pushing to get out. Michael was wearing a yellow tie with black stripes and his robe had yellow lining inside it. The Hogwarts crest, that was on Rachael's and Matt's robe, had been replaced with a yellow and black crest, a badger and the word 'HUFFLEPUFF' was written under the crest.

"Ok Rachael, Matt, we have got to go now. But you are not to follow ok. Just stay with Hagrid." he said as they got off the train.

"Whose Hagrid?" Rachael said.

"Trust me, you can't miss him!" he yelled as he walked off the station with Brandon and Hannah.

"Well" said Rachael, "Looks like we got to find..." her voice stopped as her and Matt turned to find a huge man standing behind them. His face was almost completely covered by thick, shaggy hair, the only thing they could see were his beetle black eyes.

"You two first years?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"Yes" they said.

"Then follow me." he said "FIRST YEARS FOLLOW ME!" he bellowed until everyone had left the station or was with him, and they set off walking down and off the station. A few minutes later they found themselves at the edge of a lake with several small boats with lanterns attached to them.

"NO MORE THAN FOUR TO A BOAT!" yelled Hagrid, and he got into his boat. Matt and Rachael ran towards a boat and got in. Two others got in with them as well and introduced themselves as Dan and Eva.

"EVERYONE READY?" he yelled as the last person got into a boat, "OFF WE GO!" he yelled and the boats pushed themselves off towards a wall of fog and mist.

They sailed gently and silently over the lake. Rachael looked over the edge and something looked back. It was, from what Rachael could see, massive.

"There's something in the lake!" she said in terror and everyone looked over the edge of their boats. It began to move and a tentacle shot out the water next to Hagrid's boat. Someone screamed as it happened, but Hagrid stayed perfectly calm and stroked the tentacle.

"It'll do ya no harm, it's just sayin' hello." said Hagrid smiling as it went back into the water, "It's a big softy."

They carried on for a while, when lights began to appear amongst the fog. A large shape became clear, and there it was.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The Sorting Hat's Wisdom

Standing atop a mountain that over looked the lake, was Hogwarts. Rachael gasped as she saw the turret and tower stretching up into the clear night sky. The fog was behind them now and they could now see every detail of the castle, every lit up window and the battlements, all the different parts, the towers and the rough rocks that it was built on. They were now drifting toward the mountain, and Hagrid yelled,

"HEADS DOWN!"

They found themselves going through a dark tunnel hidden by a shroud of ivy that grew on the rock. The boats came to a gentle stop and they got out. They climbed a huge stair case that lead to the colossal double doors upon which Hagrid knocked three times, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. and they were opened.

"I've got the first years here Professor Longbottom." Hagrid said and he went inside.

"Come on in." Professor Longbottom said, smiling at them."Their just getting everything sorted in there so if you'd like to follow me into that room over there." and they followed him into a small room just opposite two grand, golden doors where lots of talking was coming from.

"Right." the professor said once they were all in. "Welcome to Hogwarts school I know you'll all do great here. Now, before you start your education in the magical arts, you must be sorted." at this Matt's face went pale and Rachael gulped. "This will put you in one of four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each has a great history and will help you on your way to your feature. This system is designed to help teach you and make friends not to separate you and make enemies. The house you will be sorted into will become your family and when you achieve, so does your house. You will be rewarded with house points when you do achieve but points will be taken away when you break the rules." he said and looked at them.

"Any questions?" he said, but everyone was too nervous to ask."Alright then, I'll go and check if they're ready for you." and he left the room. A moment of silence followed, then a few people began to talk quietly. The tension was killing Rachael and she said to Matt,

"I think I might be sick."

"I know how you feel." he said, his face still a pale white."You don't really think they'll make us do a test, do you?"

Rachael, who had trying to forget about the possibility of a test, was just about to reply when the door opened and Professor Longbottom said,

"They're ready for you. So just keep calm and follow me and you'll be fine, and for all those people who heard that you'll be doing a test, don't worry you're not."

Rachael could have jumped for joy, until she thought, _If we're not doing a test, how are we going to be sorted?_ She felt the nerves creep back in as the two golden doors opened.

They walked into a huge hall with four long tables that were almost the same length as the hall itself. She noticed that each table had only people in that house on them, and on the inner left table was Michael who waved at her. She smiled in return. There was one more long table at the front of the hall where, Rachael saw the teachers sitting. In front of this table stood a stool with old hat on it. They were almost at the front when Matt tugged on Rachael's sleeve. She looked at him and he looked at the ceiling, she gasped as clear night sky they saw earlier was the ceiling and she could see every star shining. The candles that floated above them were slowly bobbing up and down as they reached three small steps that stretched across the width of the hall. The hat and teachers table were at the top of them.

Rachael turned and saw the whole school watching the hat. She looked at it as it began to twitch. A rip in the hat opened and it began to sing,

_"Welcome all_

_To Hogwarts school,_

_So try me on_

_I'm no fool._

_I'll tell you where_

_You should be_

_I have lots of knowledge_

_Inside of me._

_You may be in_

_Bold Gryffindor_

_Where they're brave _

_Right to their core._

_Or what about_

_Old Hufflepuff_

_We they are kind_

_But also tough. _

_What if you have_

_Ravenclaw smarts_

_where intelligences and wit_

_Are the arts._

_And last but not least_

_Is Slytherin_

_With cunning an sly_

_You'll fit right in._

_So put me on_

_Don't be afraid _

_It's only your head_

_I'm about to raid."_

At once the hall burst into applause. When the clapping stopped Professor Longbottom said,

"When I call out your name, you are to come to the front and I will put the hat on your head. When it tells you where to go, I will take the hat off you and you are to go to the table that belongs to said house. I will not be reading them out in alphabetical order, so Matt please come up here.

Rachael watched as Matt, who froze when his name was called, walked slowly up the steps. He sat on the stool and the hat went over his eyes.

"Hhhmm" said the hat "Let's see, nervous are we but not a dull one. RAVENCLAW!" the hat bellowed, making the first years jump. Matt, who wasn't expecting the hat to shout, nearly fell off the stool. He got up, put the hat down and ran to the far right table, which had exploded into clapping.

TJ, a small boy with long, was next.

"SLYTHERIN!" came the hats booming voice, and the table on the far right began to clap. Then a girl called Grace became the first Hufflepuff, James was made a Gryffindor as was Simon. Karen became a Ravenclaw, Olivier was pronounced a Gryffindor. Eva, the girl who was in the boat with Rachael and Matt, got to the stool and sat for three minutes before the hat declared her a Ravenclaw. John and Rose both got Slytherin, Jacob and Daniel both became Ravenclaw and Greg was called stupid but brave and was put in Gryffindor. Andrew was made a Hufflepuff because of his patients.

Rachael was waiting for her name, but it wasn't called. more and more people were being called forward, but Rachael was still waiting. She was becoming impatient as she listened to every name and house it made her more and more nervous.

Daisy -Hufflepuff, Jack - Slytherin, Ivan -Ravenclaw, Katie -Slytherin, Jonathan -Gryffendor, Holly -Gryffindor, Callum -Hufflepuff, Ron -Hufflepuff, Samantha - Ravenclaw, Ben -Slytherin, Bert -Ravenclaw.

Rachael was starting to accept the fact that she was going to be last, as yet another person, Elle, was put in Hufflepuff as were Alfie and Ethan who joined Elle on the inner left table. Max was put into Slytherin with Heather and Gabriel followed. Charlotte became a Gryffindor. There were now six girls and one boy left now. Beth was made the last Slytherin and China was made a Gryffindor. Four became three as Clare was put in Hufflepuff, then Tim was made a Gryffindor. Emily was soon running to the Ravenclaw table and Margret was soon walking towards the cheering Gryffindor table.

"Ok then Rachael Vardey." said Professor Longbottom. Rachael's heart began to pound as she walked up the wooden steps to sit on the stool. She felt the whole school watching as she walked, her heart beating. She sat down and the hat went on.

"AHA! You're a tricky one aren't you. All those thoughts flying around in your head, it's almost making me dizzy." said the hat aloud. "Your ambitious like a Slytherin, but brave like a Gryffindor. I also see loyalty in there so Hufflepuff could be for you. But, in that head of yours is great intelligence, and creativity waiting to come out and shine, a trait of most who belong Ravenclaw." Rachael just sat, waiting for the whole thing to be over. "Better be... RAVENCLAW!" yelled the sorting hat. Rachael opened her eyes, which she had squeezed shut, and saw the Ravenclaw table burst into clapping and cheering. As she got up, took the hat off and began to walk towards Matt and the Ravenclaw table, she saw Michael who smiled and put his thumbs up. When she sat down next to Matt, the hat had been taken away and the headmistress stood up to address the school.

"Hello and welcome to Hogwarts." she was a old looking woman with large purple glasses. She was wearing a long set of black robes with five silver stars going up each sleeve and her bushy, greyish white hair billowed out from the top of her head. "I am Professor Victoria Langton and I'm so pleased to see you all hear today. Now a few announcements for the first years, and some reminders to the rest of you. First off all, no Weasley products, end off. Secondly, the forbidden forest is out of bounds and you are not to go there. No using magic in between lessons or flying inside the castle please." she said and her face went from stern to happy. "Now we've gotten that over with, we should probably get on with my favourite part of the night. Let the first feast of the year begin!"

The golden plates in front of the students were suddenly filled with food, jugs of water and pumpkin juice hovered gently and tipping their content into anyone who held up their goblet.

"So" Rachael said, turning to Matt "We're in Ravenclaw."

"I know." said Matt, taking a drink of water, "It was horrible having to wait, even worse for you. But I'm just glad it's all over." and started to eat.

Rachael was very happy to find she was with someone who, she may have met about nine hours ago, but was beginning to know well and she took her fork and took a piece of pork from a passing plate. She wondered what was going to happen next: would she not be able to see Michael or Hannah again, where was she going to sleep, did she have to buy a different robe and tie to match the others and when was pudding.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Ravenclaw Tower

When Professor Langton spoke again, dessert had just vanished and Rachael was full.

"Well, I hope you all enjoyed that wonderful feast!" she said smiling, "Time for bed, so if you'll all make your way to the common rooms and the prefects will show the first years to their rooms."

Everyone was now moving towards the doors but the first years, who were waiting for the prefect to tell them where they needed to be.

Rachael looked around and said,

"Where's the prefect?"

"I don't know." Matt replied also looking around for the prefect.

Then a much older person wearing a Ravenclaw uniform with a purple badge with a silver 'P' on it, approached the ten first years that were gathered at the end of the table.

"Hello." he said, happy to see them, "I'll be showing you to the Ravenclaw common room, I'm Leo Smith." and he began to walk towards the doors, followed by the first years.

"How far away do you think the common is?" Rachael asked Matt.

"I hope it isn't too far." he said watching the Hufflepuff and Slytherin first years went down a flight of stairs and out of sight. They, however were heading up the grand stair case with the Gryffindor first years. When they reached the top of the stairs, they gasped in awe and a little bit of terror as hundreds staircases were criss-crossing all the way up to the top. Some were moving and others stood perfectly sill. They watched until a girl screamed as several ghosts floated past and through the wall.

"OH, I forgot to tell you about the ghosts." said Leo still smiling, "They won't hurt you, well Peeves might but thankfully he's not here. The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower is the Grey Lady, she doesn't talk much but she's a real help if your lost." he said, and he carried on walking.

Up and up they went, passing talking pictures that welcomed them to Hogwarts, through some hidden doors- disguised as pictures- and finally they reached a spiral staircase.

"This is Ravenclaw tower." said Leo as they walked up the stairs.

"It takes ages to get too, doesn't it." said Rachael, looking as if she was going to pass out.

"I hope I don't get lost trying to find my way around, although I know I will." replied Matt, looking really tired.

When they finally stopped at the top of the staircase, they were met with a large wooden door with a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. Leo knocked on the door and it spoke.

_"The poor have it, the rich want it, if you drink or eat it you'll die, but what is it?"_

"To get in you must answer the question correctly." Leo explained, "Anybody want to try and answer?" Rachael put her hand up,

"Nothing" she said confidently.

_"Correct, you may pass."_ and the door swung open.

"You'll often find a large group of us trying to work out the answer. It's good way of keeping people out but it is annoying if you forget something, so I suggest triple checking your bag before you leave." said Leo, and they walked into a beautiful marble white round room with blue silk banners and curtains that fluttered gently as the door closed behind the last first year. It had a high ceiling and to small balconies on the left and right side of it, and a large statue of Ravenclaw wearing, what looked to be, a bronze diadem, that stood in the middle of the room. The walls were decorated with pictures of famous witches and wizards from Ravenclaw house, the newest of a woman, who had light blond hair and a kind looking face, the name underneath the portrait said 'Luna Lovegood'. There were two doors below the balconies and fire place in between them. This all made the room very airy, as if they were on top of marble mountain.

"It's beautiful." said Eva, looking up at the ceiling, which was painted to look like the night sky.

"It is." said Dan looking at the deep blue carpet beneath them and the ornate bronze lanterns that lit up the room.

"Right." said Leo, clapping his hands trying to get everyone's attention. When they were silent, he continued to speak, "Boys dormitories to the left. It should be the first room on the staircase. Girls, the same on your right. You'll find all you belongings have been put in your rooms and your animals are being taken care of, if you want to see them, you need only ask. Any questions?" he said, but everyone was too tired to ask, "Ok then good night, and get some sleep, it's your first day of lessons tomorrow." he said and left to go to his dormitory.

"It's so free and spacious up here." Rachael said to Matt.

"I know what you mean, but I'll have to admire it in the morning. I'm really tired." he said yawning, "See you in tomorrow." he said as he walked off with the other four boys towards the left hand door.

"Good night." and she made her way through the seats, blue sofas and tables to the right hand door.

She found her trunk at the foot of a four poster bed, decorated with feathers and birds. There were light, silk curtains that could be drawn if you wanted privacy. The sheets and duvet were also made of high quality silk. The bed looked so inviting to the now exhausted Rachael, who threw on her pyjamas on and fell on to the bed and fell asleep.

BONG!

Rachael almost fell out of bed at the sound of a large bell being rang. Everyone else had reacted in the same way as Eva, in the bed next to Rachael, was moaning.

"Why would they do that?" she groaned

"To wake us up, it obviously works as well." replied Rachael, who had been dreaming about the night before.

Eva and Rachael were the first ready and down in the common room. It looked even more magnificent than the night before, as the morning light flooded in through the glass windows that were neatly lining the side of the walls. They sat and talked until Matt and Daniel, as he liked being called, came down from the boys dormitory and they set off to the Great Hall.

"How on earth are we going to find our way back to the hall? I could barely remember what house I was in." said Daniel.

"Have you noticed our ties and robes have changed?" said Rachael, who only just looked in a mirror that was on the wall.

"That's so cool!" said Matt "I thought I would have to buy another set of robes and ties."

"Me too." said Eva

They were now almost completely lost and had no idea of where they were.

"It's good job we got up so quick, otherwise we'd be late for breakfast." said Rachael

"I don't think we're going to get there in time." said Daniel.

But, just as they turned the corner, they spotted Michael.

"There you are!" he said, happy to see them.

"We're lost." said Matt, tired from the trek around the corridors.

"Well it's a good job I'm not." he said smiling, and he looked around to check if anyone was watching, and pulled back a painting. A dark tunnel was behind it and Michael went in, followed by the group of Ravenclaw first years.


End file.
